


Let It Snow

by Praemonitor



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Decker Family's New Dog, Gen, One Shot, Prompt: Snowed In, Puppy for Christmas, The Winter Holiday Potluck Fic Fest, Trixie Decker & Lucifer Morningstar Friendship, Trixie Decker & Mazikeen Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 05:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Praemonitor/pseuds/Praemonitor
Summary: Trixie gets a puppy for Christmas. Well, sorta. Silly standalone short, written for the 2017 'Winter Holiday Potluck Fic Fest.'





	Let It Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and happy holidays to the Lucifer fandom!
> 
> You inspire me with your endless creativity and passion, and I truly wouldn't be the writer I am today without you. I've been rather absent as of late, but I hope this little one shot makes up for it! It's unbearably silly, but I rather like it. :)
> 
> [ Prompt ]  
> Snowed in
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own it.

It was snowing in Los Angeles.

Supernatural hijinks, for sure and certain. What were the chances of a raging blizzard on Christmas Eve, especially when southern California hadn't seen temperatures this low since the Pleistocene? Their mayor finally declared a State of Emergency after eight inches blanketed Sunset Boulevard in pristine white, and palm trees cracked under the ice. Highways were closed and grocery stores ransacked, as if stockpiling bread and Dasani might somehow stave the apocalypse.

Ella Lopez was a native Michigander, and subzero climates ran through her veins like lifeblood. Picture her unimpressed. "What's everybody so worried about? It's just a little snow."

She spoke to Chloe and Maze via cell phone, because electricity to their apartment had just cut off, and they'd all but resigned themselves to an icy grave. Best say their goodbyes now.

"That's a titch dramatic," said Ella. "Burn some candles and wear a scarf. You'll live."

She and her brothers regularly rode a plow to school in Detroit, and thus this unfolding citywide hysteria seemed a bit excessive. Conversely, the Los Angelians were about 98% sure they wouldn't survive to see Christmas morning.

Lucifer, who hated the cold almost as much as he hated his father, sat on Chloe's living room floor, bundled under a pile of quilts with Trixie and Maze. They were playing Candy Crush on his phone, until Chloe chided them for wasting its battery. "Turn that off. We've no way to charge it."

Grumbling his dissent, Lucifer nevertheless obeyed. "Irrelevant if we freeze to death."

Trixie looked stricken. "Are we really gonna die before Christmas?"

"No, sweetie. Of course not." After talking to Ella, now Chloe was only about 42% sure they woudn't survive the night. May the odds be ever in their favor.

Per her midwestern friend, who possessed such all-powerful secrets for weathering winter, Chloe lit a few candles, then supplied her daughter with books and puzzles to pass the time. Lucifer griped about being bored too, though nobody much cared except Trixie.

"May I read to you?" She opened _How the Grinch Stole Christmas,_ and this occupied him for at least half an hour before the novelty wore off.

Outside, the storm rallied with an unholy howl. Trixie jumped at the sound. "D'you hear that?"

"It's only the wind, monkey."

Trixie set aside her book, listening closer. Even as the gale abated, the mournful howling continued. "I don't think it's the wind." She padded to a window, wiping away fog with her sleeve, and peered into the storm. From their third-floor balcony, her view of the courtyard was rather impressive. "Something's moving out there." She squinted, shielding her eyes against the stark-white glare, and gasped when her brain processed what she was seeing. "Mommy, a dog's trapped outside!"

Lucifer, Maze, and Chloe pushed and shoved each other for a spot near the window, each variably skeptical that anything might still be alive amid this arctic blizzard. Of course, Trixie heard none of it. Before anyone could grab her, stop her, talk sense into her, she'd already donned her boots, coat, hat, and mittens, and bolted out the door.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Trixie bravely ventured into the storm and a harrowing ten yards through snow drifts to retrieve— well, in her defense, the animal was vaguely dog-shaped. But it wasn't a dog. Definitely not a dog.

The four-legged creature was small and pudgy with mangy red fur, black-tipped ears, and two little nubs that might've been early horns. It had dark eyes and scaly reptilian spines down its back, which ended in a forked tail. All in all, it looked a bit like a fat fox — a very dilapidated, very demonic fox, afflicted with some horrendous skin condition.

Heedless of her own wellbeing, Trixie wrapped the yowling animal in her coat and scrambled through the snow. Once back inside, she carried it into their apartment and refused to let anyone else hold it. "He's freezing." She set it down on the living room carpet, amid heaps of blankets and her unfinished Christmas puzzles, then sprinted to the linen closet for fresh towels.

Maze took one look at the shivering, pitiful creature and barked a laugh. "No wonder the weather's gone loony. That there's a newborn cerberus." Met with Chloe’s pure and utter bafflement, she elaborated: "A hellhound, a demon watchdog." She said it as though everyone and their mother should know.

Lucifer helped, or tried to. "They guard the Underworld. And enjoy belly rubs."

Chloe stopped, blinked, shook her head to clear confusion. "And how is this related to Los Angeles versus the impending Ice Age?"

"The mood of a cerberus alters its environment." Brief excitement over, Maze was far more concerned with finishing her eggnog than the satanic puppy in their living room. "They’re upset, it's colder. They're happy, it's warmer." She shot Chloe an odd look. "Why d'you think Hell is so hot?"

Chloe rubbed her temples. "Never thought about it."

While Trixie was occupied, frantically scouring the fridge for dog-safe treats, Lucifer fussed over the animal too. "Silly puppo." He rearranged a few pillows to prop its head, then gave it an affectionate pat. Only temporarily did this cease its howling. "Wandering awfully far north of the Hellmouth." He spoke directly to the cerberus, as if it might answer. "Got separated from your pack, little one?"

Trixie returned with baby carrots, a bowl of water, and every towel in the house, then tried to pick up the creature again. Ready to fight for its life, terrified beyond reason, the cerberus tucked its tail, raised its hackles, and bared sharp teeth.

"Careful!" cried Chloe. Her daughter's gentle heart would land her in serious trouble someday. "It might bite."

Words for the wise, especially when dealing with an honest-to-goodness hellhound. Any other child might've been too frightened, but Trixie was a courageous and determined girl with a forgiving soul. In lieu of giving up, she simply proceeded with a bit more caution.

Where other people saw monsters, she saw new friends.

"I'm sorry I scared you." Trixie scooted a water bowl closer to the spooked animal, then dropped a baby carrot within its reach. "I only want to help."

When it smelled food, the cerberus stopped howling and growling, inching toward the carrot until it pounced in a ravenous frenzy. Trixie fed it the entire bag, tossing each treat strategically closer and closer to herself until the animal sniffed her hand, then ate willingly from her palm. 

Safely this time, sans threat of teeth, Trixie gathered the cerberus in a clean towel. "Maze says you're only a baby, and Lucifer says you're lost." She stroked its straggly fur as the creature snuggled into her like a lapdog, warbling sounds straight from the Exorcist. "When the snow stops, we'll find your family and send you home for Christmas."

Outside, the snow had already stopped. Happy cerberus, balmy weather. Even the apartment itself grew toasty-warm again.

Lucifer cleared his throat. "Cerberi are known to abandon a litter's runt. Survival of the fittest."

"The pack's long gone by now," agreed Maze.

Once and always a mother, Chloe heard what her daughter was about to say long before she said it. In three, two, one—

“Oh no, he's homeless, ma! Please can we keep him?” Trixie had wanted a puppy for Christmas ever since she knew what the word meant, but of course she chose a snarling hellhound instead of a nice Labrador. "He's so handsome."

On the bright side, quite a tribute to Chloe's parenting, because her child saw goodness and beauty in all things. Even really ugly demonic things with fangs and scales.

"She," corrected Maze, ruining the moment. "Only the females have horns."

Trixie flailed with joy, hoisting the cerberus under its armpits and hugging it tight. "Oh, you're a girl?!" The creature yipped, licking her face, wagging its tail, and Chloe wondered if it might understand English in a literal sense. "We can play dress-up and decorate your collar with holiday bows and ribbons and sparkles— "

Chloe buried her face in her palms. "How are we gonna explain a cerberus to the landlord?"

"Check the lease." Maze shrugged. "She's definitely under the weight limit."

Supportive, in his way, Lucifer rubbed Chloe on the back. "Say she’s one of those hairless, hypoallergenic dogs. Perfectly believable — for a few months, at least." Thanks, Satan. He dawned a sympathetic smile. "Until she starts growing in the two extra heads."

**Author's Note:**

> In fear my joke falls flat, this is the Wiki image for a cerberus. Though Trixie will love her dog no matter how many heads it grows, Chloe's got some 'splaining to do at her local veterinary clinic.


End file.
